President

Ronnie Reid

President

Contact 

Hi! My name is Ronnie Reid and I’m honoured to have been elected President for 2017-2018. My role is a representative one. From the media to the local community and University, it is my responsibility to put forward the views of students to summarise and improve your experience here at Newcastle.

On top of my very important representative functions, I also have a set of manifesto pledges which I  continue to work on. From typing exams to launching The Speaker Series, I’m very excited to make changes which will make our university experience even better. You can check out the status of my commitments below.

Newcastle has been by far and away both the best and biggest experience of my life, and it would be a pleasure to be a part of maximising your enjoyment of this great University.

3 posts
Last post 24 Feb 2017
  • Martin Luther Who? President Fri 24 Feb 2017 11:23 On 13th November 1967, Newcastle University awarded Dr Martin Luther King an honorary degree, the only UK University to...
  • End of a Cheera President Mon 09 Mar 2015 11:45 Term 2 started off with an incredible rag week, and although I had been on committee the past two years...
  • Pres rewind President Tue 04 Nov 2014 16:47 6 weeks in and I already got myself draped over the front of the Union - and that's not after...

Objectives

 

From the manifestos that they were elected on, each Sabbatical Officer has chosen six objectives to focus on. During the year they will be updating their progress by colour coding each objective:

  • Green – Complete
  • Amber – In Progress
  • Red – Can’t Do
  • Grey – Not Started

Click on each box to find out more about how they are getting on.

1) Increase the amount of face-to-face engagement between the student body and NUSU to ensure we hear problems and concerns more effectively.

Last semester, the Sabbatical Officer team decided that we wanted to make sure students saw us out and about, listening and acting on their concerns. We set out to have a presence in schools, halls and host a social event in order that students could give us feedback to let us know what we could do better. We spoke to a total of 2374 students and received a huge range of thoughts and ideas.

Updated 25.01.17

2) I pledge to protect Wednesday afternoons so that all undergraduate students can continue to partake in extracurricular activities to enhance their employability skills.

I’m hugely passionate about students keeping their Wednesday afternoons free, namely due to my involvement with sport during my degree. We haven’t had much word that they are in jeopardy here, however, I maintain if they start to become in danger I’ll fight to ensure it doesn’t happen.

Updated 25.01.17

3) Due to the loss of maintenance grants, I aim to help implement 3 initiatives to help students from low income backgrounds.

Last semester, we visited local schools in an outreach programme to give young students a flavour of university and convey the benefits of it. In addition, I promoted some of the bursaries NUSU offers through social media and verbally during outreach. This topic is something I’d love to work more on in the coming semester.

Updated 25.01.17

4) I aim to make 5 tangible changes our students have asked for through the ‘You Want It, We Got It’ campaign.

Last semester we received 48 pieces of feedback which we were able to categorise. Every request got a response to show what stage it was at. Not all the changes suggested could be made, however, a couple of the ones we could action were the creation of a MensBar drinks menu and soya milk at the Starbucks! I’ll still be looking to implement as many as possible during the second semester.

Updated 25.01.17

5) I will set up an online forum for students to register their concerns or things they believe could be improved. This will allow an easier platform to both register and action suggestions to improve NUSU.

This year, through the ‘You Want It, We Got It’ feedback campaign, we set up an online platform for students to register their feedback. If you want to register feedback, please do so here and I will respond within 3 weeks, detailing whether your concern can be actioned, can’t be actioned, will be investigated or passed on to the relevant representatives.

Updated 25.01.17

6) I will increase awareness of mental health provision across the University.

Over the last semester, I’ve been working with the Inclusive Newcastle Co-coordinator as well as the AU Officer so compose a presentation to roll out to as many students involved with sport as possible. The presentation will raise awareness and signpost students on how they can deal with mental health problems. In addition, the Sabbatical Officer team gave induction talks to thousands of students at the beginning of the year with an emphasis on the welfare options at both the University and the Union.

Updated 25.01.17

 

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